Kelsy Karter has told the world her face tattoo of Harry Styles was a publicity stunt.
In a YouTube video posted on Friday, the now infamous Kiwi-born musician revealed her strange ink was fake.
She says she had "the worst year" of her life and didn't want to write another sad song, which is why she wrote about English heart-throb Harry Styles.
- 'I wear my heart on my cheek': Kiwi singer Kelsy Karter explains Harry Styles face tattoo
- Kiwi singer Kelsy Karter gets Harry Styles' face tattooed on her cheek
But she knew she needed to get herself famous. The question, according to Ms Karter was, how were we going to cut through the noise and get noticed?
Apparently after weeks of "going back and forth, arguing, debating, crying and a lot of yelling" the idea was born.
Ms Karter decided she would pretend to get the pop-icon's face tattooed on hers, and fool the world.
They hired famous tattoo artist Romeo "to make it look real" and an FX artist to put the finishing touches on.
She says it worked - it got her the publicity she needed. Her single "Harry" dropped the following morning.
As she writes on YouTube
"It worked. Every major publication and news outlet in the world covered the story, and more importantly, the song. I had your attention."
She says once people started asking to see the tattoo in person, she attempted to put it back on, with little success, especially as it wouldn't come off right away.
"This has always been about rock and roll. The tattoo is gone, and all that's left is the music."
Newshub.